It was time to start searching. We all left the inn with giggles in the air as the girls were satisfied. We made our way to the adventurers guild to turn in the quests.
Still, it nagged at my mind how to find out if a place we were attacking was affiliated with which group. What other groups were there; The world was more complicated than I knew, and I needed to discover the details.
The problem was there was only one solution that I could think of was to talk to my Mistress.
Mistress was the only one that I could rely on for these things. I was her disciple, after all. She wanted me to thrive but wanted me to do it on my own. If I ran into Vinar's property again and attacked it, he would kill my team members probably before taking me to see my Mistress anyways. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if she already knew that.
I decided that I would use the symbol of my Mistress to talk. I didn't know what would happen after, but I knew I couldn't let a run-in with Vinar happen anytime soon. I straightened my spine while we walked, thinking about it. I wasn't going to cower in front of my Mistress. I was her disciple for whatever reason, and I had to represent her. Although the Mistress was seemingly unapproachable for others, she wasn't that way for me.
The Mistress had sent me away with the tools to survive. I had not even suffered a single death in this game yet. I think it was an achievement when it came to some of the scenarios that we had gotten ourselves into. If it weren't for my relationship with Mistress, I would be dead, as would be my Party members. I still didn't know what death meant in the game, and I didn't want to experience it. Neither did I want my women to either.
My Illusions were powerful distractions that caused the enemy not to attack the right target or to lose themselves. This was powerful in combat and something I needed to refine constantly. I needed to start growing more, though.
My thoughts were chopped off as I bumped into something on our way to the Adventurers Guild. The girls could see I was deep in thought and left me to them. A big man, though, bumped into me, and I was pulled out of them.
"Oh, sorry ma'am," He said as I looked at him, "I didn't see you there," He finished.
I had to look up at the giant of a man nearing seven feet of height with half a ton of Iron on him. I had to look up to see his head as he looked down at me. I didn't like him, though, as I noticed the look in his eyes.
"Is there any way I can make it up to you ladies?" He asked with a sly grin. "I see you are a party, though, so maybe you don't need a tank, like myself. Although I wonder who your tank is?" He asked, looking at us.
Iona's armor was on the lighter side than this bulk of a man. I knew, though, that this person was a player. His smug grin spoke of entitlement too. Maybe I was wrong about this, but I also knew that most players were wealthy or rich. Those were two different things but not something I would get into while being looked down on by this guy.
"It's okay," I told him, trying to defuse any 'help' from the man. "I was lost in thought and wasn't watching where I was going," I smiled, and the man seemed almost dazed as he looked down on me. His expression changed from daze soon, and his smile became more lecherous.
"No, I really should help you," He said, and The women around me started to notice something was going on. Although they knew that something was going on, they didn't want to turn it into a situation. We were not scared of the man just didn't want anything to go on inside the city.
"That is not necessary, and we need to be going now," I informed him with a frown now, "If we need your help in the future, we may ask for your services, For now. Bye," My statement was with me trying to push past him. He held my arm for a couple of extra moments before letting go.
We all sighed in relief, not wanting to PvP inside a city. The man was armored, but Fidel could have fried him in a single spell. The man watched us go, but I didn't like how he was looking at me. I then realized that someone like him might have dumped all his points into strength. Maybe with his Character stat distribution, my Charisma was affecting him?
The thoughts of when that happened with the demon were like losing all control of your body. I was easily seduced the first time and would have done anything while I was with him. It might be the same for that man we just passed.
I didn't particularly appreciate where that thought might have gone when I was interrupted with us arriving at the Adventurer's guild.
The Streets were crowded even more than when we first came here, and we went to the side entrance that allowed us member entry that most players didn't have yet. We got in because of a recommendation from that encounter with the demon Vinar in the early town. It was useful since we didn't have to wade through the crowd and the receptionist only had a line, two people, long in here. It seemed that the NPC's were more of solo players, or these were people that reached this place on their own. I wasn't sure, and I got in line with the ladies beside me.
We waited as a group as the receptionists did their jobs professionally without any hassle.
Soon it was our turn, and we stepped up to a Dog-kin Receptionist who smiled at us, "Are you here looking for a quest or completing one?" She asked professionally.
Viccy took over and replied, "We are turning in two quests," Viccy replied.
Viccy then explained what had happened with the quest and what we found along the way. It took several minutes, and the receptionist looked shocked. When Viccy reached the end, she glossed over the details of the Demon. Instead, she said we went back out the way we came instead of heading back through the forest.
We didn't know if they would verify that, but the receptionist started to call someone replied finally, "I cannot give the reward as of this moment. The investigation is based on how much information was given and how you deal with it. You have not only investigated but seemed to have fixed the problem. This will take some time to discuss. But I can turn in the Wolf quest for killing wolves." The receptionist told us.
"That is fine," Viccy replied, "How long do you think your higher-ups need to discuss this?" Viccy asked.
An elderly man walked out with staff from out of our sight. He approached the receptionist's window and replied, "We will need several hours; if you come back tomorrow, we will be in agreement by then. However, we will also need to dispatch someone to investigate. We will assume you have told the truth as you have not proven yourselves unreliable. But if you have lied about where the corruption came from, we will punish your party severely for lying to us with a reputation loss." The elderly man said seriously.
"Well, I will tell you one more thing then," Viccy said, "As we headed out, we felt a flash of a large amount of mana. We didn't investigate since we were injured and tired. But something did happen in that underground place. The dying tree is still there, and we don't know the condition of the inside."
I also realized why Viccy was saying this. Vinar moved the corruption factory. This wasn't good for us if they thought that we lied about the place since we didn't know if even the entrance was gone. I only hoped that some traces would be left to keep our reputation intact.
"That is fine," The elderly man said, leaning on his staff, "Some demons move things as they wish through the void. This is what takes destroying Corruption factories they have so hard. The reward for your investigation and at least partial destruction of this factory will be accounted for in the reward. For now, take your reward for the wolves." The man said and nodded to the receptionist, who smiled.
"I can finish this for you, know," She said with a smile.
Viccy nodded, and we all watched as she opened a safe and took out gold coins, and a notification entered our vision.
--
Quest Completed: Wolf Pack
There is a large pack of wolves to the east roaming and killing everything nearby. It might start adversely affecting the ecosystem. As such, the Druids have put a hit for clearing these savage wolves.
Reward: 5g
--
The receptionist placed the gold coins with a blush. "This is your reward. The investigation quest will pay much more of a reward for your troubles. The blush made her cute, and I understood her embarrassment. This was a quest from the Druids. They paid five gold for the quest, and that was it in front of our other achievements though it seemed pitiful.
Still, that was what the job paid, and the guild had to make money too. I smiled and talked to her for the first time, "Thank you, We understand, and we will be back tomorrow for the rest of the rewards. No need to be embarrassed," I smiled with charm, and the Girl visibly relaxed. The blush faded somewhat.
"I really hope they give you what you deserve," The receptionist replied, "Is there anything else I can help you with, though, while you are here?" She asked us.
"Maybe, Later," I replied, getting looks from the other women.
"We are recruiting someone, right?" Gloom replied, "Isn't the guild the best place to do that?"
"I want to try our luck for a day recruiting from the outside of the member list. If nobody good shows up, then we can ask the guild. It will give us something to do too!" I replied, slightly excited since I hadn't done this type of work in a long time. "We will meet a bunch of different people in our recruitment drive!"
Viccy looked at and shook her head. "You won't talk her out of it," Viccy said.
"Oh, You know me too well, Viccy," I said to my lover, "I let Chris do this most of the time, But I do enjoy the mass recruitment drives. You see the oddest things," I said quietly.